The president delivered applause line after applause line, not through well-turned phrases written by some future seven-figure pundit, but by stating the basic facts.

One of his biggest applause lines came when he said they ended the worst part of the Obamacare: the mandate.

Throughout his address to Congress, Trump was buoyant.

Nancy Pelosi sulked. She looked like a mouse denied even a crumb.

She did not applaud Trump when he said, “We can achieve absolutely anything.”

She stewed when he said, “Americans share the same home, the same heart, the same destiny, and the same American flag.”

She sat stonily when he said, “We want every American to know the dignity of a hard day’s work. We want every child to be safe in their home at night. And we want every citizen to be proud of this land that we love.”

Before the speech, true conservative columnist Andrew Malcolm wrote, “Can Pelosi and her doddering crew convince enough Americans that she and her party should retrieve the Speaker’s gavel without outlining specifically what, if anything, positive they propose to do differently? Other than, of course, not being Donald Trump.”

Trump’s summation of the incredible year of 2017 answered the question. Republicans have delivered on their promise to bring peace and prosperity.

Democrats have nothing. They stand for equal pay (the law since 1963). Civil rights (1964). Gun control (1968). Abortion on demand (1973).

Why not call for the end to Prohibition (1933)?

Democrats have no new ideas. The party exists only to serve as a vehicle for collecting bribes and handing out favors.

Democrats lack compassion for anything other than political power.

“Entire row of Democrats refusing to stand for family whose two girls were murdered by MS-13,” Katie Pavlich tweeted.

Trump offered new ideas. He will re-negotiate trade agreements. He said, “The era of economic surrender is over.”

He spoke for the American people when he reminded Congress, “Americans are Dreamers too!”

Democrat lost their dream when he restored the word “dreamers” to its rightful place in America.

That set him up to sell the end of chain migration and the visa lottery. His audience was not Congress, but the American public.

The speech itself repeatedly used the invited guests to make his points. This required him to stay on script. This turned the night into a reality show. Us old-timers remember “Queen for a Day.” It had that feeling.

North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho holding his crutches aloft as the chamber applauded him was an historic moment.

But Trump’s address was more than stagecraft and optics. It was a reminder that policies affect real people in ways Congress never considers. Their donors and lobbyists leave out these inconvenient truths.

President Trump reminded Congress of the consequences of elitism.

When you let young refugees in from crime-ridden Guatemala out of compassion, you also sign the death warrants of innocent children in Long Island. Yes, not every refugee is MS-13, but that is not good enough. The government must make sure that none of them are MS-13, or it is no deal.

In the many, many guest mentions, Trump allowed the American people to tell Congress what the State of the Union is.

He was compassionate, on-target, and articulate.

People keep saying Trump needs to act presidential.

Tonight he was.

I do not expect any one of those critics to acknowledge the heights he reached tonight.